Mike Hall...I wish I Could've Read More About Him

There was a great story in the Missourian sports section today. Brian Sandalow told the tale of Mike Hall, a former Mizzou Broadcast Journalism student who won ESPN's first "Dream Job" competition, returning to Mizzou. Sandalow apparently followed Hall around for the day he was here, and was able to record what Hall did, as well as mix in some questions from Hall. I liked the story a lot, I thought it was very interesting to follow around a guy who is now a major part of ESPN's latest brainchild, ESPNU (a station that covers all college events). It reminded me a lot of those reality T.V. shows were they follow a person around for a day to "see how they live." I'm a sucker for those kind of shows, and I was a sucker for this. The complaint I have lies either with Sandalow or the Missourian, I can't tell which. I wanted more. I wanted a longer story. I don't know if Sandalow did not get that much information and that was the story that was turned in, or whether the Missourian editors cut some of the story out. Regardless of who is to blame, I thought the story could have been even better than it was if it were longer. When it ended, it seemed like it was just getting warmed up, that there was a lot more story to tell. It had the feel of a magazine feature in the early parts of the story, and then it just kind of ended. It was kind of jarring for me as a reader. I was prepared to read a two page story, and I wish I could have.

Publish Date: April 19 in the Missourian. Front page of the sports section, carrying over to page 3.